Process for combustion using a shaft actuated swirling combustor

Abstract

A combustor having an ion transport membrane therein and an adjustable swirler, which is mechanically connected at an inlet of a combustion zone of the combustor; a combustion system comprising the combustor, a feedback control system adapted to adjust swirler blades of the combustor based on a compositional variation of a fuel stream, and a plurality of feedback control systems to control operational variables within the combustor for an efficient oxy-combustion; and a process for combusting a fuel stream via the combustion system. Various embodiments of the combustor, the combustion system, and the process for combusting the fuel stream are disclosed.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A process for combusting a fuel stream with a shaft actuated swirling combustor comprising:
 a cylindrical vessel with an internal cavity; 
 an ion transport membrane that divides the internal cavity of said cylindrical vessel into a first and a second concentric cylindrical zone, wherein the first concentric cylindrical zone is a feed zone and the second concentric cylindrical zone is a combustion zone; 
 a first inlet and a first outlet located in the feed zone, and a second inlet and a second outlet located in the combustion zone; 
 a swirler that is connected to the second inlet, wherein the swirler has a plurality of adjustable blades with adjustable angles, a shaft, a casing and an actuator disposed in the shaft; 
 a third concentric cylindrical zone which is sandwiched between the first and the second concentric cylindrical zones, defining a sweep zone; and 
 a third inlet and a third outlet located in the sweep zone, the process comprising: 
 combusting the fuel stream with molecular oxygen in the combustion zone to form an exhaust stream comprising water vapor and carbon dioxide; 
 delivering an oxygen-containing stream to the first inlet of the combustor, wherein molecular oxygen present in the oxygen-containing stream is transported to the sweep zone through the ion transport membrane; 
 flowing a portion of the exhaust stream into the third inlet of the combustor to sweep the molecular oxygen away from the sweep zone and to form an oxygen-enriched stream; 
 mixing the oxygen-enriched stream with the fuel stream in a mixer to form a combustion mixture; and 
 delivering the combustion mixture to the second inlet of the combustor, wherein the combustion mixture is expanded and/or agitated in the combustion zone via the swirler and is combusted to form the exhaust stream; and 
 repeating the flowing, the mixing, and the delivering. 
 
     
     
       2. The process of  claim 1 , wherein the fuel stream is a syngas stream. 
     
     
       3. The process of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 expanding the exhaust stream in an expander to generate power. 
 
     
     
       4. The process of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 adjusting the adjustable angles of the adjustable blades of the swirler with the actuator based on a composition of the combustion mixture.